Second floor: poured. Trusses on order.

The second floor walls were poured as scheduled and cleanup has begun on the site.  Work has taken a pause this week for the concrete in the walls to cure and for holiday.  I think there will be some progress the days in between Christmas and New years but it will mostly be clean up on the site.  The landscaping hasn't begun yet, but I think the on-site dumpster needs to be cleared out before that can happen.

   I think this is the first clear shot of the house with the second floors poured, without trailers in the way.  I confirmed that the turret and master closet wall will be built more conventionally, with wood.  Actually, it will either be 2x6 or 2x8 stud walls with 2" foam on the outside and either spray foam or blown in cellulose for insulation.  While it's not as air tight as ICF, I think it will be okay, if done properly.  I would prefer spray foam since it will cut down on air infiltration, but  the 2" exterior foam will help.

    Here's the final long shot of the master bedroom.  Walk out balcony is to the left and the windows will frame the bed on the far wall.  A header is needed above the window since ICF can't make that span alone with that thickness.  I'm still not sure how the elevator shaft will be finished in the attic space.

    Looks like the walls in between the windows will be build conventionally too.  There's such little wall space here, I'm sure it will okay. A header will also need to be installed across these windows to support the weigh of the roof.  There isn't a pocket on either wall, so I'm not sure how it will be constructed.  I didn't venture out onto the catwalk this time, but it might be the case where the concrete was blocked off of the corners, making a pocket for beams.

    Looking forward towards the turret.  The power float will be needed for the garage slab, but they haven't taken it down yet. I think they'll do it when they get the crane in for the trusses.  A bit of clean up is needed up here, but nothing drastic.

    Here's the driveway approach, now that the trailers have been moved.  You can just make out the painted stakes on the left that will be where the retaining walls are.  The stakes around the small pines will be a semi-circular wall of boulders that will help transition the driveway height to the "lawn" height.  Most of the driveway in this view will be a large circular paver stone turn around.

    Here's all three levels of the house.  When completed, the porch will partition the basement level from the first and second, so it shouldn't look so monolithic.  There will also be two exterior building materials.  We've seen too many houses that are just all brick or all stone.  Looks too plain.

    Another shot of the "motor coach" as the landscape design calls it.  Basically it's an area big enough for any of the three cars to turn around in so we don't have to back out 250' of driveway.  I'll write more about the landscaping plan in the next post.

   Yeah, not much to look at this week.  Next week should be a different story.